GES Boss wants fake certificates syndicate crushed

The Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Michael Nsowah is alarmed by the production of doctored and totally faked school results and certificates to facilitate admission into tertiary institution.

He says the illegal activity is on a massive scale and unless the police step in to clamp down on the activities of the syndicate involved it could jeopardize the ability of Ghanaian students to further their education internationally.

In a report carried by the Daily Graphic, Mr. Nsowah affirmed that ?We need to clamp down on the activities of those producing the fake certificates. If we don?t do that, it will debase the credibility of the West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination,? he said.

Some public universities and polytechnics have this year alone sacked about 400 students for entering the institutions through fraudulent means such as the use of fake certificates.

The Accra Polytechnic, for instance has dismissed more than 94 fresh and continuing students for using fake certificates to gain admission to the institution. The polytechnic is still probing 591 other students.

The University of Ghana has also sacked about 160 fresh students so far. The authorities of the university are still checking the document submitted by the fresh students.

According to Mr. Nsowah, now that Ghanaian students were writing the WASSSCE, there was the need to protect the certificates to enable the students to continue their studies both locally and internationally.

He said as part of the efforts to eliminate the practice, a proposal had been made to the West African Examinations Council to submit the names of those qualified for university admission on compact discs to the various universities and polytechnics soon after the WASSCE results had been released.

According to him, the attitude of those behind the fake certificates was undermining efforts to ensure that qualified persons gained access to tertiary education.

Mr Nsowah said heads of second cycle schools had also been asked to insist on checking the original certificates of students before admitting them.